Charles Laurence Hendrickson, 84, of Benson, died on Monday evening December 25, 2017, at the Golden Living Center Meadow Lane Nursing Home.

Visitation will be held on Friday, December 29, from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm at Golden Living Center in Benson followed by a memorial service at 2:00 pm. Interment will be at the Our Redeemer’s Lutheran Church Cemetery.

Gylia “Gaye” Klyve, 94, of Benson, Minn., died Wednesday, December 20, 2017, at White Pines Assisted Living Facility in Mendota Heights, Minn. Visitation will be from 5–7 p.m., Wednesday, January 3, 2018, at Zniewski Funeral Home in Benson. Visitation will continue from 10–11 a.m., followed by the Funeral Service at 11 a.m., Thursday, January 4, 2018, at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Swift Falls. Interment will be in Rolling Forks Cemetery in Pope County. Arrangements are with Zniewski Funeral Home.

It was called the Age of Reason and the Age of Enlightenment. Lasting 130 years from 1685 to 1815, it was an era when “reason was the primary source of authority and legitimacy, and came to advance ideals like liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government and separation of church and state.”

The thirst for knowledge was spurred on by scientific methodology and experimentation. German 18th Century philosopher Immanuel Kant captured the movement in the Latin phrase – Sapere Aude – “Dare to know.”

We know the path to knowledge is paved with the sacrifices of those who have been called heretics and blasphemers. They have been poisoned, hung, shot, drown, and tarred and feathered for their pursuit of knowledge. Books have been banned and speakers arrested and imprisoned.

United States Department of Agriculture financial backing for a Bremer Bank loan for Swift County-Benson Health Services to construct an assisted living and memory care facility has been approved.

Bremer Bank of Willmar has agreed to loan $7.352 million toward the $9.682 million project to build a 46-unit assisted living facility of which 18 units will be dedicated to memory care.

The Sonsteng Foundation has also stepped in to help the project with a $750,000 loan. SCBHS is also investing additional assets in the project to cover the difference between Bremer’s loan and the project cost.

One key step remains before SCBHS gets a go to start construction and that is the final numbers on the cost of building the facility. This “do not exceed” cost number will tell the governing board whether or not the financial package it has put together still can pay for the facility as proposed; that number is expected this week.

Swift County-Benson Health Services’ 2018 budget shows a projected loss of $148,000, which reflects a substantial improvement in the health facility’s bottom line compared to past years and the current year.

That projected operation’s loss reflects a depreciation expense of $1,081,000.

Adding back the depreciation gives SCBHS about $950,000 in cash earned in 2018 if income and expense projections are on the mark. Principal payments on debt service don’t show up on the profit and loss statement. However, they take away from cash on hand.

Those debt payments are about $450,000, reducing cash to around $500,000 in 2018, Chief Financial Office Dan Enderson told the SCBHS governing board at its meeting last Thursday night.

Editor’s note: The following story was written by Minnesota Public Radio’s Tim Nelson with comments by the Heartland Girls Ranch executive director added by the Monitor-News.

The state’s Department of Human Services has cited staff at the Heartland Girls Ranch in Benson after a girl left the facility and was later found in Iowa, possibly the victim of a sexual assault.

The Heartland Girls Ranch of Benson was founded in 1992 and serves girls recommended for placement by county child protection workers, age 12 to 21, from around Minnesota. It has become a home in recent years for girls who are victims of sex trafficking. It has 32 beds and serves around 60 to 70 girls a year, according to its website.

The DHS report says a girl at the ranch was allowed two home visits in September, the first of which ended early when her family reported she’d used a mobile phone to contact an adult not on her approved contact list.

The Benson girls basketball team dropped a pair of conference games last week to Atwater-CGC and Sauk Centre. The Braves, who fell to 1-7 overall and 0-5 in the WCC, opened up the week with a close 53-45 loss at ACGC last Tuesday night.

Benson led that game 25-23 at halftime, but the Falcons rallied in the second half to pull out the win.

Later in the week, the state’s No.1-ranked Class AA team, Sauk Centre, held the Braves to just 20 points during a 69-20 loss at Sauk Centre.

Benson has just one game scheduled this week, Thursday (tomorrow) at home against NLS. After that, the Braves have some time off to prepare for a game, Tuesday, Jan. 2 at home against Clinton-GB....

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The Benson boys basketball team ran into a strong Breckenridge team, Saturday, during the CASE-IH Holiday Tournament. The Braves fell behind 59-19 by halftime and Breckenridge went on to an 88-36 victory.

The two games Friday were called off due to a terrorist threat phoned in from the Fargo-Moorhead area that night. The call came during the first semifinal game between Breckenridge and MACCRAY, Friday night, forcing that game and the next game between ACGC and Benson to be cancelled and the entire BHS gym evacuated.

The Benson vs. ACGC game will be made up later this winter as a conference game, and there was no official winner to the Holiday Tournament.

Benson has two more tough games this week before the Christmas break. The Braves are set to play at NLS, Thursday (tomorrow), and at Minnewaska Area, Friday....